My Name
Matt Fields, Director of Golf at Hank Haney IJGA
My Experience
Matt Fields is the Director of Golf at Hank Haney International Junior Golf Academy on Hilton Head Island, S.C. He has been a PGA Member for 10 years and formerly worked as a PGA Professional at Pinehurst Resort, also for 10 years. Several of Matt's students play on the PGA and LPGA Tours.
My Web Site(s)
How my tip will help:
With a growing number of professional golfers now using a belly putter, more recreational golfers are interested in the longer putter. This drill uses a homemade training aid to replicate a belly putter-type of putting stroke. It creates a fulcrum point at your belly to maintain the necessary connection and produce a proper arcing path to the ball.
Here's my tip:
To build the training aid shown in the photo (click on photo for the large view), purchase a metal rod that is 30-inches long and is 3/16-inch round. Drill a hole three-quarters into the center of a golf ball with your 3/16-inch drill bit. Then put crazy glue into the hole and push the metal rod into the golf ball. Please make sure to wear protective ear and eyewear when doing this, and properly secure the golf ball before drilling, because it can be dangerous. Once the rod sets in the golf ball for about 30 minutes, it will be ready to go.
Then push the other end of the rod into the top of the grip on your conventional putter. Now you have a conventional putter that can be anchored against your belly, like a belly putter, thanks to the homemade extension.
Now what do you do with your homemade training aid? Use it to get the feeling of a belly putter without actually owning a belly putter. This, in turn, will help you get the feeling of controlling your putting stroke with the big muscles of your back, shoulders and chest (which helps eliminate the small muscles in your arms and wrists).
Advice
- Practice putting with the rod using your putter grip for five to ten minutes, and then practice your stroke without the extension.
- Alternate, going back and forth between using the "belly putter" extension and using your conventional putter without the extension. Over time, this practice should start giving you a better feeling for controlling the putting stroke with your big muscles.
- And again, please be very careful when drilling the golf ball to create this training aid, making sure to secure the golf ball before drilling.
